Hortonbridge Terrace

Build: MJP Projects
Architecture: NK Architect
Photography: Jacqui Turk
Styling: Danielle Leigh Interiors
Completed: 2026
Featured in: habitus living

A late Victorian terrace.
Commercial use, stripped bare.
Returned to family life.

The Details

A five-storey Italianate Victorian terrace in Potts Point. Late-1800s bones, two original marble fireplaces, and almost nothing else left. Two decades of commercial tenancy had stripped every period detail: cornices, ceiling roses, wall panelling, plasterwork - all gone. The house had the architecture. It had forgotten how to use it.

  • 5-storey late-1800s Italianate Victorian terrace, Potts Point NSW

  • Young professional couple, growing family.

  • Full-service interior design + specialist coordination.

  • Full commercial-to-residential conversion across 5 levels

  • Heritage plasterwork reinstated, custom plaster archway, infrared sauna wellness basement, single quartzite stone specification, handmade Moroccan tiles, vertical floor-plan strategy, smart lighting throughout

Convict Interiors was brought on at the very beginning - before architects were appointed, before heritage consultants were engaged, before a single decision had been locked in. That early involvement shaped everything. Rather than inheriting someone else's strategy, we helped build it: coordinating with the heritage consultant on what could and couldn't be reinstated, working alongside the architect to define the floor-plate logic, and establishing the brief directly with the clients before the technical work began.

The clients wanted the Victorian character restored - cornices, ceiling roses, wainscoting, plasterwork - but this was never meant to be a period set piece. The brief was London townhouse charm, made Australian and made liveable. The clients are homebodies: health-focused, wellness-oriented, and about to become a family of three during the project. Every design decision had to account for who they were now and who they would be in two years.

The constraints were real. Triple-skin walls, a heritage overlay, five floor plates, and a rear yard too tight to extend. Because we were there from initiation, those constraints became design inputs rather than late surprises.

The Solutions

  • Project initiated and strategy shaped from day one - heritage consultant and architect coordination before design began

  • Full heritage plasterwork reinstated: cornices, ceiling roses, wall panelling and wainscoting across all key levels

  • Vertical floor-plan strategy: entertaining at entry level, formal living on first floor, primary suite and nursery mid-levels, loft library at top

  • Basement transformed from dark storeroom into full wellness zone: infrared sauna, third bathroom, massage space, relocated laundry

  • Single quartzite stone specification throughout - chosen over marble for durability with young family

  • Handmade Moroccan tile for character and permanence

  • Muddied Victorian colour palette

  • Smart lighting throughout, switches positioned for half-awake family night movements

  • Acoustic and sensory detailing: triple-lined curtains, noise separation from living levels

  • Partnered with the build team through construction, then directed styling at handover

Design Philosophy

The design decisions here were not cosmetic. The heritage detail was reinstated, but it was never recreated literally. The profiles are architecturally correct - the shapes belong to the period - but nothing was treated as a museum restoration. Colour, material and layout were all calibrated to how a young family actually lives: wellness-first, low-maintenance, room to grow. The five floor plates became a vertical strategy: public life at the base, private life above, recovery below.

Basement / Wellness Zone

Before

Dark storeroom. Underused, disconnected from the rest of the house.

After

Full wellness floor. Infrared sauna built into a redirected stair landing return. Third bathroom added for post-sauna use. Custom joinery, new opening to courtyard, relocated laundry, space for massage or health services. The basement now earns its floor plate.

Ground Floor / Kitchen + Dining

Before

Disjointed. No material story.

After

Reconfigured full height joinery. Wider openings to allow connection and solar access. Addition of kitchen island. Cohesive material and colour pallet that has a point of view.

First Floor / Grand Living Room

Before

White walls, commercial finishes, two original marble fireplaces as the only survivors.

After

Cornices and ceiling rose reinstated. Marble fireplace as the room's anchor. Deep colour palette in chalky, muddied tones. Double French doors to balcony — views to Potts Point plane trees and city glimpses. The grandest room in the house. Formal, but not dressed up.

Primary Suite + Nursery

Before

Rooms without considered acoustic or sensory treatment.

After

Triple-lined curtains for acoustic separation, sensory planning for a young child, smart lighting positioned for night movements. Floor plate designed to evolve: larger nursery adjacent to primary suite now, formal living below convertible into larger main bedroom as the family grows.

Loft Library + Study

Before

An attic floor with no considered use. Accessible, but overlooked.

After

The quietest room in the house — and the most personal. A loft library and study at the top of a five-storey terrace, removed from the noise of family life below. Floor-to-ceiling joinery for books and objects. A space designed for the client who reads, thinks and decompresses at altitude. In a home built around wellness, this is the retreat for deep work and thinking.

THE RESULT

A terrace that had lost twenty years to commercial use found its way back. The Victorian character is reinstated - the cornices, the archways, the ceiling roses - but the house is quieter and more liveable than a faithful restoration would have made it. The clients have a home that reflects both the history of the building and the reality of their lives. Wellness-focused, family-ready, and considered at every level. A home that photographs like a heritage property and functions like a contemporary one.

Want this level of thinking applied to your renovation?

If you're working with a complex property - heritage constraints, multiple consultants, a brief that needs shaping before design can begin - we'll map exactly what's possible.

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